In 1976 a
group of Ice Hockey enthusiast wished to promote youth hockey on
Staten Island and formed the Staten Island Ice Hockey
League.They began by
selecting high school age students from Tottenville, New Dorp,
Wagner and Port Richmond and named the teams the Pirates, Centrals,
Falcons, and Redmen.That season they played an eight game schedule at the New Shrewsbury
ice skating rink in New Jersey. The
original program was named the High School Varsity Program.The following year, school parent associations were formed
from each school and skaters were identified with that school.A clinic program, called the Junior Varsity Program, was
instituted for non-skating high and junior high school students.The clinic program was formed by pooling students from all
the schools.In
addition the Varsity program was increased to seven teams when the St. Peters (Eagles),
Farrell (Lions) and McKee (Sea Gulls) were added and an eighteen
game schedule was played.In 1978, a 501 (c) (3) Corporation was formed and the
organization was named it the “Staten Island Ice Hockey
Association.”

In the early
80’s the league added Men and Youth Programs to the Association.They expanded to over seventy teams ranging in age and
ability from 4 year old to 70 year olds.However, logistical problems became a nightmare, having no
rink on Staten Island, all the games and practices were scheduled
off Staten Island at times and days
not conducive to school age students.

In 1982, the
Staten Island Ice Hockey Association underwent its first
re-organization.Many
of its founders formed “the Staten Island Athletic and Recreational
Alliance” and secured more than $400,000 in funds from the War
Memorial Association to build an Ice Rink.At the same time, then Congressman Guy Molinari was able to
obtain a 30,000 square foot parcel of land next to two existing
airplane hangers at Miller Field in New Dorp to construct the Rink.The rink was built and enclosed in a bubble.

In
the middle of the 1985 - 1986 season a hurricane destroyed the
bubble and the rink was moved inside one of the hangers as a
temporary measure.A
steel building was purchased and constructed the following year.That summer, the New York City Sanitation Department request
and was granted permission to store recyclable receptacles at the
location during the summer months while we waited for the delivery
of the ice making compressors.Vandals set the containers on fire and the new structure was
burnt to the ground. As
luck would have it and unknown to us, our insurance policy had
expired fifteen days prior to the fire.The Federal Government demanded that the site be cleaned up
immediately and we had run out of money and were forced to give up
our lease in order to avoid penalties.At the same time, New York City
funded modifications to both the Abe Stark Arena, in
Brooklyn
and the Staten Island War Memorial Ice Skating Rink.

In
1989, in order to downsize, we underwent our second reorganization
and the New York Ice Hockey Association was instituted to continue
our High School program at those venues.The Staten Island Ice Hockey Association retained its Youth &
Clinic Programs and went back to New Jersey.The Staten Island Skating Pavilion was opened in the late
90’s and we returned to Staten Island.We transferred our traveling youth programs to that rink and
continued our Clinic Programs, as seen today, teaching both skating
and hockey and feeding youths into the other programs.

Since
1976 the SIIHA has been providing ice-skating and Ice Hockey
Instruction to over 25,000 youths of Staten
Island by providing after school programs in the form of
Clinics, games, and transportation to all parts of the metropolitan
area.Various Youth Ice
Skating and Ice Hockey programs are operated by the SIIHA.

The
target population of this program are those Staten Island children
who enroll and have been previously denied the opportunity to learn
how to ice skate and participate in Ice Hockey activities due to a
lack of qualified instruction, economics, or have been excluded from
participating in other area programs due to restrictive residency
requirements of other communities.

We
make this highly specialized training and instruction available to
100 Youths, male and female, between the ages of 3 and 17 of various
ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds in the
county of Richmond.See N.Y.C. Demographic population for Borough of Staten
Island.

In
the past and prior to City Council funding, many "ice hockey and
skating aspirants" (youths) on Staten Island were forced to travel
great distances off the Island to other States (N.J. & Conn.) and
other N.Y. distant counties (Nassau, Suffolk, Etc) in order to
obtain this type of highly specialized training and instruction.

The
goal of our program is to help reduce the difficulty of travel for a
Staten Island youth in order to be exposed to this
specialized training and instruction while at the same time gaining
exposure to ice skating and the sport of ice hockey in a safe,
controlled, and healthful environment.

The
expected outcome of the program is to increase the opportunity for
Staten Island Youths to participate in a structured programs, which
will result in these 100 youths becoming familiar with a disciplined
learning experience that enhance their knowledge, skills, and will
motivate them to pursue a lifestyle free of delinquency and drugs.

Ice-skating
and ice hockey are recreational activities not presently enjoyed by
many of Staten Island's youths.This SIIHA program provides a comprehensive recreational and
instructional forum featuring skating and game techniques, proper
care and use of equipment, peer relationships through teamwork, and
exposure to the rules and regulations of the sport.

Flyers,
Friends of participants, recruitment drives at local recreational
centers, SI Community Boards, School Bulletin Boards, Local
Newspapers and TV are all forms of our recruitment methods.

Youths
3 to 17 years of age participate in all phases of the program.They are broken down into skills groups, advancing as their
skills progress.

Phase
3. The GAME CLINIC.Peer relationship through rules of order and team play are
fostered during game situations.Team concepts, strategy, and positional play are emphasized.A more advanced game competition against other area youths is
sometimes offered to those youths who can perform at a higher level
of competence or are between the ages of 14-17 on a limited basis.

Our
primary program site is the SI Skating Pavilion, located at 3080 Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island,
NY10309, on the SouthShore in the Charleston
section of Staten Island.It is an indoor facility and is not subject to weather.

Administrators,
training supervisors and instructors are volunteers and have a
minimum of 3 years experience with our organization. Many are
trained and have been certified by USA Hockey.New instructors are required to assist certified instructors
for one season.

Instructors
monitor the progress of each participant on a weekly basis.As skills increase advanced training and instruction result.Program accomplishments are highlighted in a graphic format.In addition, we undertake a yearly survey conducted to
evaluate our success in reaching program objectives.Directors do an internal evaluation through an established
questionnaire to determine if all SIIHA objectives have been
addressed in the stated problem areas.

History
indicates children who benefited by SIIHA Programs improved physical
fitness and skills, improve peer relationships through teamwork and
to learn the rules and regulations of the activities being provided.High School age students remained in School to graduation.Many went on to college and professional careers.School and league records indicate this conclusion.